In Ha Jin’s book series, “The Bride-groom”, millet porridge is a dish served for dinner in “Saboteur” (Jin 8). I have never heard of this dish before and I decided to look it up in hopes the dish gave more context to the novel.
In the story, “Saboteur” the characters indue many hardships throughout their day, dealing with police force and spilled tea. I learned through research that this dish is Chinese “comfort food”. If I was in the characters position in the story, I would want a dish that brought comfort to me such as mac and cheese. I would compare millet porridge to mac and cheese, warming a consumer up and filling them.
The dish is prepared in an unexpected way. First, ground-up millet is soaked in hot water to becomes softened. After this the millet is placed in a boiling pot of water changing its consistency. The millet and water combine to make a oatmeal-like texture. Finally, the millet porridge is seasoned with salt and pepper, creating a simple dish. In some pictures I saw online, I noticed the recipe varied, adding vegetables such as carrots and lentils. I questioned if I would enjoy this dish as I am a fan of similar dishes such as oatmeal and quinoa.
Attached is the recipe: https://youtu.be/1KpqOPc29Ys
One reply on “Millet Porridge”
Thanks for looking into this detail in the story in this way! I’ll happily award additional points if you can find the ingredients you need and try making yourself some. I’ll be interested to know whether it is as comforting as mac and cheese can be for those who take comfort in that staple of the American diet…